Quite early on in the wedding planning, Shama thought up the idea to use apple baskets as centerpieces for our wedding. Turns out she doesn’t like flowers so much. Good to know.

While we were buying apples, we saw some bags of oranges and we thought they’d be nice to add more color to the centerpieces.

We got numerous comments during and after the wedding about how much people liked the “apples and oranges” concept for the centerpieces. Most saw it as representing two very different cultures coming together. It was really nice. I wish we had thought of it. Really, we just thought they were pretty.

And so it’s been with our relationship in general. A lot of people like to read something noble and important into a Muslim and Jew getting married. Someone once (albeit jokingly) told me, “the future of the world rests on your shoulders.” I’m glad people think we’re doing something good, but it really never occurred to me or Shama that our relationship had some larger purpose. I just thought she was pretty.